System and method for determining the location of a transmitter using passive reflectors or refractors as proxy receivers

ABSTRACT

The location of a transmitter can be determined using a proxy receiver, such as a natural landmark or manmade structure, which reflects and/or refracts the signal from a transmitter toward a receiver. A processor is operatively connected to the receiver and determines the location of the transmitter based on a multilateration calculation that includes the Time of Arrival of the transmitted signal at the proxy receiver and the known or calculated location of the proxy receiver as inputs.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates to a system and method for determining thelocation of a transmitter, such as a mobile transmitting unit, and moreparticularly, this invention relates to a system and method ofaccurately determining the location of a mobile transmitting unit in amultipath environment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] In prior art location determining systems where Time of Arrival(TOA) and/or Angle of Arrival (AOA) methods are used, multipath is asignificant contributor to errors. For example, one global positioningsystem (GPS) based location system has a reported Root Mean Square (RMS)error of 7 meters when the GPS receiver is in a suburban sidewalk orclear area. In the more congested street canyons between high-risebuildings, however, the reported Root Mean Square error is approximatelyan order of magnitude greater. These errors arise from the inability ofthe receiver to determine times of arrival (either absolutely orcomparatively) of signals propagating via straight-line paths from thesatellites to the receiver in the multipath environment. In manyinstances, the energy in a straight-line path is not even detectable.

[0003] Some mobile phone locating systems use a network of receivers tomeasure the time of arrival (TOA) or the angle of arrival (AOA) of thephone signal at plural receive sites and use these measurements in amultilateration or triangulation process to determine the location ofthe phone. These systems require that three receivers measure the signalTime of Arrival or Angle of Arrival in order to resolve ambiguities inthe location estimate. The accuracy of these cell-phone overlay systemsis also degraded by multipath. Errors are introduced by the inability ofthe receiver to detect and measure the time of arrival or angle ofarrival of that portion of the signal propagating in a straight-linepath from the transmitter to the receiver. In addition, those systemsthat employ time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) calculations are alsosubject to errors introduced by errors in the time references at theplural receive sites.

[0004] Other location systems use combined Angle of Arrival and TimeDifference of Arrival (or a similar technique) where the Time of Arrivaland the Angle of Arrival of the signal are measured at two or morereceive sites. An advantage of these systems relative to those that useonly Angle of Arrival or Time Difference of Arrival is that the locationof the transmitting unit may be unambiguously determined from data fromtwo receive sites.

[0005] One example of such a location system is shown in U.S. Pat. No.5,719,584 to Otto, assigned to the present assignee, Harris Corporationof Melbourne, Fla., the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety. In the '584 Otto patent, a system and methoddetermines the geolocation of a transmitter within or without a set ofreceiving stations. Plural receiving stations determine the Time ofArrival and Angle of arrival of a signal from a transmitting unit, suchas a mobile transmitting unit. A central processing unit determines thegeolocation of the radiating unit from such Times of Arrival and Anglesof Arrival data. If the measured Angle of Arrival and Time of Arrivalare not that of the straight-line path, errors in the location estimatewill result. This system is also subject to errors in TOA measurementscaused by inaccuracies in the time references at the receive sites.

[0006] Other patents, such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,184,829, assigned to TruePosition, Inc., concerns a method and apparatus for calibrating awireless location system to make highly accurate Time Difference ofArrival and Frequency Difference of Arrival measurements. A firstreference signal is transmitted from a reference transmitter andreceived at first and second receiver systems. A first error value iscompared with a measured Time Difference of Arrival or FrequencyDifference of Arrival value with a theoretical time difference ofarrival or a frequency difference of arrival value associated with theknown locations of the receiver systems and the known locations of thereference transmitter. The first error value is used to correctsubsequent Time Difference of Arrival measurements associated with themobile transmitter to be located. An in internal calibration methodinjects a comb signal into the first receiver system. The comb signal isused to obtain an estimate of the manner in which the transfer functionvaries across the bandwidth of the first receiver. This mitigates thevariation of the first transfer function on the time measurements madeby the first receiver.

[0007] Another prior art location system incorporates a radio frequency“fingerprinting” technique in an attempt to take advantage of multipathin the location determining process. In this system a database ofreceived signal signatures or “fingerprints” is generated during acalibration process for each receiver in the system. Each calibrationfingerprint consists of a set of signal parameters measured by thatreceiver when a transmitter is transmitting from a known location orgrid point. The database consists of a large set of these fingerprintswith each one referenced to its corresponding grid point. In thislocation system, the radio frequency fingerprint of the mobiletransmitting unit to be located is measured, and the location estimateis the grid point associated with a “matching” fingerprint from thedatabase. By using this technique, it is possible under the appropriatecircumstances to locate the mobile transmitter in a high multipathenvironment with a single receiver.

[0008] This type of location system has several drawbacks andlimitations. For example, a mobile transmitting unit is presumed to beat one of the grid points, instead of intermediate of various gridpoints. Thus there is an inherent location estimate “quantization” errorrelated to the density of the grid points. Generation of the fingerprintdatabase, often referred to as “calibration”, requires the costly andtime-consuming process of having a transmitter travel to and transmitfrom each grid point. Once the calibration process is complete, changesin the local skyline caused by the erection or tearing down of abuilding or other structure result in changes to the fingerprints forgrid points in the vicinity and, therefore, re-calibration is required.

[0009] Relocation of a receiver also requires that the calibrationprocess be repeated for that receiver. Typically, the grid points are atstreet level due to the difficulty of getting access to every buildingor structure during the calibration process and due to the increase incost associated with generating a three dimensional grid as opposed to atwo dimensional grid. It is well known by those skilled in the art,however, that the multipath profile, or fingerprint, of a transmitterchanges dramatically in an urban environment as the transmitter goes upin elevation. Thus, a transmitter carried by an individual on the 30thfloor of a building would have a fingerprint that would varydramatically from that generated by a transmitter located on or near theground floor of the same building during calibration. The differencesmay be so great that the fingerprint does not match the fingerprint forthe correct grid point or, perhaps even worse, the fingerprint matchesthe fingerprint of another grid point some distance removed.

[0010] The fingerprint of a transmitter attached to or embedded in anobject such as an asset may also vary dramatically from the fingerprintof the transmitter used for calibration due to shadowing or directionalblockage induced by the object. This may result in failure to find amatching fingerprint in the database or result in a match to afingerprint for a grid point far removed from the actual location of thetransmitter. The use of the fingerprinting technique is not readilyapplicable to mobile receivers since calibration would have to berepeated for every possible location of the mobile receiver. The expenseassociated with generating a database containing fingerprints for everygrid point at each of the possible locations of the mobile receiver isprohibitive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide asystem and method for determining the location of a transmitter thatreduces errors induced by multipath due to natural or manmade objects.

[0012] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide asystem and method for accurately determining the location of atransmitter that does not require a line of sight signal from atransmitter to a receiver.

[0013] It is still another object of the present invention to provide asystem and method for determining the location of a transmitter thatminimizes the number of receivers that must be within range of thetransmitter.

[0014] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide asystem and method for determining the location of a transmitter thatremoves or reduces errors in location estimates caused by errors inreceiver time references.

[0015] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide asystem and method for determining the location of a transmitter thatdoes not require calibration via transmissions from a plurality of gridpoints and is not subject to the location estimate “quantization” errorassociated with such grid points.

[0016] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide asystem and method for determining the location of a transmitter that isoperable with a database that is not necessarily extensive and that maybe readily modified or enhanced with minimal expense.

[0017] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide asystem and method for accurately determining the location of atransmitter that is tolerant of changes in the environment such as theaddition or deletion of buildings or structures.

[0018] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide asystem and method for determining the location of a transmitter that istolerant of changing multipath profiles induced by people or objectsnear or moving about the transmitter or caused by changes in transmitterelevation.

[0019] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide asystem and method for determining the location of a transmitter that isuseful in systems employing fixed, mobile, or both fixed and mobilereceivers.

[0020] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide asystem and method for determining the location of a transmitter in threedimensions.

[0021] The present invention is advantageous and provides a system andmethod for determining the location of a transmitter using amultilateration calculation with the inputs to multilaterationcalculation including, but not limited to, the estimated Time of Arrivalof the transmitted signal at a natural or manmade reflecting orrefracting object and the location of the object. It should be notedthat a reflecting or refracting object could be a portion of a largerobject. The TOA of the signal at the object is calculated as theestimated Time of Arrival at a receiver of that portion of the signalbelieved to have been reflected or refracted by the object minus theknown (or calculated) time of propagation from a point selected asrepresenting the location of the object to the receiver.

[0022] The point selected as representing the location of an object soused in the multilateration process is hereafter referred to as a proxyreceiver site or a proxy receiver location and the object is hereafterreferred to as a proxy receiver. The processor includes in themultilateration calculation such inputs as may be required in order todetermine an estimated location or set of possible locations of thetransmitter.

[0023] These additional inputs may, but do not necessarily, include oneor more additional proxy receiver sites and the associated estimatedTime(s) of Arrival at the respective additional proxy receiver site(s).The time of arrival at a proxy receiver site may be determined from thetime of arrival of the signal refracted or reflected by that proxyreceiver at said receiver or at any one of a second, third, fourth, ormore, fixed or mobile receivers that may be included in a specificsystem deployment. These additional inputs may also, but do notnecessarily, include one or more input(s) as determined by other means.The inputs may include, but are not limited to, Time of Arrival, RangingMeasurements (such as round-trip time of flight), Angle of Arrival,Signal Strength or other information collected by any means as known bythose skilled in the art. These additional inputs may be measured by anycombination of said first, second, third, fourth, or so on receiversthat may be present in the specific system deployment.

[0024] In accordance with the present invention, a system and methoddetermines the location of the transmitter and includes the transmitterto be located that transmits a signal. A fixed or mobile receiver ofsubstantially known or determinable location receives portions of thesignal from the transmitter via one or more paths that may or may notinclude a line of site path. The receiver measures the Time of Arrivalof at least one of the paths believed not to be a straight-line path. Aprocessor operatively connected to the receiver selects a natural ormanmade object of known or determinable location as a proxy receiver.The processor calculates the location of the transmitter based on amultilateration calculation including as inputs the estimated Time ofArrival of the signal at the proxy receiver and the known (orcalculated) location of the proxy receiver. The processor also includesas inputs to the multilateration calculation other information as may benecessary to determine the location of the transmitter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Other objects, features and advantages of the present inventionwill become apparent from the detailed description of the inventionwhich follows, when considered in light of the accompanying drawings inwhich:

[0026]FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a prior art Angle of Arrival and Time ofArrival location determining system.

[0027]FIG. 3 is a diagram showing how a proxy receive site having aproxy receiver, such as a water tower, can be established fordetermining the location of a mobile unit using only one receive site.

[0028]FIG. 4 illustrates a diagram similar to FIG. 3, but showing theproxy receiver as a natural object, such as a hill.

[0029]FIG. 5 illustrates how a proxy receiver can be used forcalibrating the clocks of first and second receive sites.

[0030]FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a multipath situation caused byvarious buildings, illustrating the error that occurs when the hyperbolaand locus of points that are established if the proxy receivers areconsidered to be direct line of sight reflectors.

[0031]FIG. 7 illustrates the locus of points and error that could occurwhen only an Angle of Arrival analysis is used with proxy receivers.

[0032]FIG. 8 is a diagram similar to FIG. 7, but illustrating the locusof points that are developed based on the system and method of thepresent invention, such that the location of a mobile unit can beestablished.

[0033]FIGS. 9 and 10 illustrate flow charts for an image databaseroutine that could be used with the present invention.

[0034]FIG. 11 is a layout of individual images of a building and texturemodel that could be used with the present invention.

[0035]FIG. 12 is another flow chart showing the type of process thatcould be used with an image database routine shown in FIGS. 9 and 10.

[0036]FIGS. 13 and 14 are diagrams, illustrating respective top andisometric views, where the image database routine determines the threedimensional aspects of proxy receivers and buildings for heightdeterminations and more accurate location analysis.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0037] The present invention will now be described more fullyhereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in whichpreferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may,however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construedas limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, theseembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough andcomplete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to thoseskilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

[0038] The present invention is advantageous and allows the use of onereceiver at a receive site to determine the location of a mobiletransmitting unit, such as a transmitting tag for a car or individualwearing the tag, a mobile transceiver, or other mobile unit. The systemuses a proxy receiver (or passive reflector) for Time of Arrival and/orTime of Difference of Arrival calculations. Throughout the description,the term proxy receiver is used for a reflector/refractor located at alocation called a proxy receive site (PRS) and also used to describe anytype of passive reflector, such as a building, mountain, or hill, watertower, or any other natural or man-made object that would reflect and/orrefract (or diffract) the signal from a transmitting mobile unit orother radio transmitter to a receiver that could be fixed or mobile. Insome instances, the proxy receiver reflects or refracts signals, such asfor calibration, and could be referred to as a reference proxytransmitter. The term mobile unit can refer to any transmitter, fixed ormoving, for purposes of description.

[0039] Naturally, the signals can be radio frequency signals,electromagnetic signals, or other signal types known to those skilled inthe art. For example, some water towers are an excellent reflector ofradio frequency signals, and the water tower itself could be a proxyreceiver. A large hill could be a proxy receiver and a building, whichnot only would reflect radio frequency signals, but alsodiffract/refract radio frequency signals around a building corner edge.

[0040] The present invention is also advantageous because it allows theuse of a look-up table or geographical software imaging database, suchas the “RealSite” software as developed by Harris Corporation ofMelbourne, Fla., to be used to assist in calculating the mobilelocation. The present invention is also advantageous because it allowsuse of the mobile transmitting unit for calibrating the clocks of twodifferent receivers at two different receive sites, even though thelocation of the unit may be unknown. Two receivers could be usedsimultaneously to determine the geolocation of a mobile transmittingunit, even when multipath is present, as will be described.

[0041] The present invention is advantageous over radio fingerprinting,which has limitations and drawbacks. The mobile is always presumed to beat one of the grid points and not at an intermediate location betweengrid points. The elevation of a mobile also changes, of course, such asin a building, resulting in errors in the location estimate. Theaccuracy depends on long transmissions and the motion of the mobile. Theuse of narrow band signals can also limit the ability to discriminatepaths and the extensive calibration is required to generate afingerprint grid database. The embedded mobiles will also have differentfingerprints as compared to exposed units.

[0042]FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a basic geolocation system and methodusing an Angle of Arrival (AOA) and Time of Arrival (TOA) system, suchas disclosed in the incorporated by reference '584 patent to Otto,assigned to Harris Corporation of Melbourne, Fla.

[0043] With reference to FIG. 1, the geolocation system uses pluralfixed receive sites 30, each connected to a central processing unit 32through conventional communication links 34. A target unit (or unit tobe geolocated such as a mobile transmitting unit) 36 transmits a radiofrequency signal, which may be an RF signal, an electromagnetic signal,or various types, to plural of the receiving stations.

[0044] In operation, the receive sites (or “receiving stations”) 30 eachreceive the signal from the target unit 36 and send a communicationconcerning that signal reception to the central processing unit 32.Depending upon the structure of the system, the central processing unit32 may use the Angle of Arrivals of the signal at the receive sites 30or the Times of Arrival of the signal at the receive sites 30 or otherconventional means to determine the geolocation of the target unit 36.With a proper system design, the central processing system 32 cansimultaneously determine the geolocation of several target units 30located within the receiving range of plural of the receiving stations30.

[0045] With reference to FIG. 2, the system requires only two receivingstations RS 30 and RS 40 to determine the geolocation of a target unit36. Each receiving location 30 receives a signal from the target unit 36and determines both the Angle of Arrival and the Time of Arrival of thesignal, which is provided, in turn, to the central processing unit 32through conventional communications links 34. At the central processingunit 32, the difference in Time of Arrival information between twostations may be used to compute a locus of points along a curve 50 atwhich the target unit 36 may exist (i.e., the locus of points from whicha signal would have the determined Time Difference of Arrival betweenthe given two receiving stations 30). The precise point along the curve50 at which the target unit 36 is determined to be located is obtainedfrom the intersection of the curve 50 with the bearing lines (from theAngles of Arrival) AOA1, AOA2 from either one of the receiving stations,RS30 or RS40.

[0046] Ideally, the curve 50 and the bearing lines AOA1 and AOA2 allintersect at a single point coincident with the location of the targetunit 36. In practice, however, errors in the TOA measurements willdisplace the curve and/or errors in the AOA measurements will displaceone or both of the bearing lines such that multiple points ofintersection occur, as is shown, thus leading to uncertainty in thelocation of the mobile unit.

[0047] In this type of system in which multiple receiving sites areneeded to provide geolocating (and/or communications) coveragethroughout a geographic area, such as in a low power personalcommunication systems, which cover a wide geographic area, only tworeceiving stations are required for contact with a target unit at anytime in order to provide complete geolocating coverage. If in a givensystem, the signals from a target unit are received at more than tworeceiving stations, the processing unit can combine the bearing linesand the curves using any vectora combination scheme known to thoseskilled in the art.

[0048] Depending upon the local terrain conditions and other factors,the central processing unit 32 may: weight the signals from somereceiving sites more heavily than others; weight the signals inproportion to a metric of signal quality such as signal-to-noise ratioof the received signals; weight more heavily the positions determinedfrom receiving stations closer to the determined location of the targetunit; and/or eliminate some of the bearing lines and/or curves foroutlying estimates, and thus, weighting more heavily the curvesdetermined from the TDOA determinations. The central processing unitcould determine the geolocation of the target unit using a moment ofinertia calculation based on the weighted estimates of position. Indeed,the central processing unit may determine the geolocation of the targetunit using a moment of inertia calculation based on the weightedestimates of position.

[0049] There now follows a general overall description of the presentinvention, followed by a detailed description relative to drawing FIGS.3-13. The present invention is advantageous and determines the locationof a transmitter. A transmitter to be located transmits a signal and areceiver receives the signal from a transmitter and measures the Time ofArrival of plural of the multiple path signals from a transmission. Oneor more natural or manmade objects reflect and/or refract portions of asignal from the transmitter toward the receiver.

[0050] A database could be used to contain locations of, or informationthat may be used to calculate the locations of, the receiver and one ormore, but necessarily all, of the natural or manmade objects. Aprocessor is operative with the receiver and the database and estimatesthe location of the transmitter or determines a set of pointsrepresenting potential locations of the transmitter. This can beaccomplished by either selecting one object, the location of which iseither stored in the database or may be determined from information inthe database, as a proxy receiver, or selecting plural objects, thelocations of which are either stored in the database or may bedetermined from information stored in the database, as plural proxyreceivers.

[0051] The location of each proxy receiver is determined frominformation in the database. The location of the receiver can bedetermined from information stored in the database and then calculatedwith a straight-line signal propagation time from each proxy receiver tothe receiver. The Time of Arrival of the signal at each proxy receivercan be calculated by subtracting the proxy-receiver-to-receiver signalpropagation time for that proxy receiver from the estimated Time ofArrival at the receiver of that path estimated to have been reflected orrefracted from the proxy receiver.

[0052] One or more sets of points can be generated with each such setrepresenting potential locations of the transmitter corresponding to thedifference in Time of Arrival of the signal and a proxy receiver fromthe Time of Arrival of the signal at either another proxy signal or thereceiver.

[0053] A source or sources of additional information are operativelyconnected to the processor and may be necessary or desirable for use bythe processor by (a) selecting a proxy receiver or plural receivers, (b)as additional inputs to a multilateration calculation or (c) determiningthe waiting to be applied to points or sets of points and combining themto produce a refined set of points.

[0054] The transmitter can be a mobile transmitting unit and thereceiver can be a mobile receiver. The transmitter can also be locatedindoors, as well as the receiver. At least one proxy receiver could alsobe indoors.

[0055] The signal could be one of an electromagnetic signal, a radiofrequency signal, an optical signal, or acoustical signal. The signalcan be generated by or at the transmitter, and can be modulated inaccordance with any combination of parameters such as, but not limitedto, the identification number of the transmitter, data stored at thetransmitter, or the status of sensors or switches at the transmitter.The transmitter can also transmit the signal in response to anycombination of states of an internal timer, motion detector, or othersensor or algorithm. The signal can also be transmitted in response toan external command or event such as, but not limited to, a button orswitch closure, or the reception or a trigger or command signal. Thesignal could be the retransmission of a signal received at thetransmitter and modified in any combination of ways such as, but notlimited to, amplitude modulation, phase modulation, frequencytranslation, time shifting, spectral inversion, polarization or anyother such transformation, or modulation as may be used by those skilledin the art. It can also be modified in accordance with any parametersuch as, but not limited to, the identification number of thetransmitter, data stored at the transmitter or the status of sensors orswitches at the transmitter.

[0056] The transmitted signal can be a conventional communication systemsignal, but not limited to, cellular telephone, specialized mobileradio, mobile data or personal communications. This transmitted signalcan also have a band width such as, but not limited to, narrow band,wideband, composed of portions with band widths or composed of portionsin non-contiguous frequency bands. The signal can also be a spreadspectrum signal in any modulation format or combination of modulationformats such as, but not limited to, direct sequence, frequency hopping,non-linear frequency, linear frequency (chirp), co-chip key in, codeposition, pulse position or impulse. It can include a straight-line pathsignal from the transmitter to the receiver and can include astraight-line path signal from the transmitter to the receiver.

[0057] The at least one object can include a natural landmark or earthelevation, as a proxy receiver, or another man-made structure such as abuilding, portion or a building, water tower, portion or a water tower,communications or utility power pole or portions of a communications orutility power pole.

[0058] When a database is used with the present invention, it cancontain two-dimensional or three-dimensional location data. It also cancontain information that may be used to calculate two-dimensional orthree-dimensional locations of an object. The database can include adigitized map, digitized imagery, electromagnetic imagery, radiofrequency imagery, optical imagery or acoustical imagery. The imagerycan be the same frequency band as the transmitted signal or can be in afrequency band different from the transmitted signal.

[0059] In another aspect of the present invention, as noted before,there may be additional information or there may not be additionalinformation for processing. This source of additional information couldbe the receiver, the Angle of Arrival at the receiver or the earliestarriving signal path, such as the azimuth and elevation. The additionalinformation could include the Time of Arrival at the receiver of theearliest arriving signal path or the Angle of Arrival at the receiver ofa signal path estimated by the processor to have been reflected orrefracted by a proxy receiver. This Angle of Arrival can include theazimuth and elevation.

[0060] The additional information can also include the Angles of Arrivalat the receiver of plural signal paths estimated by the processor tohave been reflected or refracted by plural proxy receivers. The Angle ofArrival of one or more of the plural reflected or refracted signal pathscan be both azimuth and elevation. The additional information can alsoinclude, in any combination, parameters of the received signal orportions thereof, such as, but not limited to: signal strength, Angle ofArrival, Time of Arrival, multipath profile or roundtrip signal flighttime.

[0061] The source of additional information could also be the database.This additional information could include information collected fromprior transmission by the transmitter. The additional information caninclude prior estimates of transmitter location in two or threedimensions. There could also be plural sources of the additionalinformation.

[0062] The processor can determine a set of potential locations of thetransmitter corresponding to the difference in Time of Arrival of asignal at a proxy receiver and the Time of Arrival of one other signalpath at the receiver. This other signal path can be the earliestarriving signal path at the receiver. The processor can also determine aset of potential locations of the transmitter corresponding to thedifference in Time of Arrival of a signal path at a first proxy receiverand the Time of Arrival of a signal path at the second proxy receiver.The processor can determine a set of potential locations of thetransmitter corresponding to the intersection of (a) the set ofpotential locations of the transmitter corresponding to the differencein Time of Arrival of a signal path at a proxy receiver as determined bythe Time of Arrival of the signal path reflected or refracted by thatproxy receiver and the Time of Arrival of one other signal path at thereceiver with (b) a set of potential locations of the transmittercorresponding to the Angle of Arrival of the other path at the receiver.

[0063] This other signal path can be the earliest arriving path at thereceiver and the Angle of Arrival can include both azimuth andelevation.

[0064] The processor can also determine a set of potential locations ofthe transmitter that is the intersection of (a) the set of potentiallocations of the transmitter corresponding to the difference in Time ofArrival of a first signal path at a first proxy receiver as determinedby the receiver and a second signal path at a second proxy receiver asdetermined by the receiver with (b) the set of potential locations ofthe transmitter corresponding to the Angle of Arrival at the receiver ofa third signal path.

[0065] The third signal path can be the earliest arriving signal path atthe receiver. The Angle of Arrival can be determined in both azimuth andelevation. The processor can determine a refined set of potentiallocations of the transmitter by waiting and combining in anycombination: points within a set of points; plural sets of points; andsets of points derived from previous transmissions forpreviously-refined sets of points.

[0066] The combined points can include the intersection of plural setsof points or one or more of the points weighted more heavily than othersof the points. A refined set of points is determined by vectorcombination of points in two dimensions. A refined set of points isdetermined by vector combination of points in three dimensions.

[0067] The system can include a plurality of receivers for receiving thesignal, each of which measures the Time of Arrival of plural of themultipath signals from a transmission. The plurality of the receiversincludes two receivers and the processor determines a set of potentiallocations of the transmitter corresponding to the difference in Time ofArrival of a signal at a first proxy receiver as determined from theTime of Arrival of the signal reflected or refracted by the first proxyreceiver at a first receiver and the Time of Arrival of the signal at asecond proxy receiver as determined by the Time of Arrival of the signalreflected or refracted by the second proxy receiver at a secondreceiver.

[0068] The processor can determine a set of potential locations of thetransmitter corresponding to the difference in Time of Arrival of asignal at a proxy receiver as determined from the Time of Arrival of thesignal path reflected or refracted by that proxy receiver at a firstreceiver and the Time of Arrival of a signal at a second receiver. Thissecond receiver can be the Time of Arrival of the earliest arrivingsignal path at the second receiver. The earliest arriving signal path atthe second receiver is the straight-line path from the transmitter tothe second receiver.

[0069] The processor can determine a refined set of potential locationsof the transmitter by combining plural sets of potential locations ofthe transmitter. This set of combined points can be an intersection ofplural sets of points and can be determined by a vector combination ofweighted sets of points in two dimensions. The combined set of pointscan be determined by vector combination of weighted sets of points inthree dimensions.

[0070] The receiver can receive a signal from a transmitter and measurethe Time of Arrival of plural of the multiple path signals with a signalchannel receiver. It can receive a signal from a transmitter and measurethe Times of Arrival of plural of the multiple path signals in a pluralchannel receiver. One of the plural channels can be operative with adirective antennae pointed in a radial direction along which lies atleast one object that may be selected as a proxy receiver. There can beplural directive antennas, each of which is pointed in a radialdirection along which lies at least one object that may be selected as aproxy receiver and each of which is operative with a separate channel ofthe receiver.

[0071] This directive antennae is a sector of a multiple sector antennaeand can be a conventional communications system such as, but not limitedto: mobile telephone, specialized mobile radio, or a mobile data. Theplural, but necessarily all, channels of a receiver are each operativewith one or more elements of a plural element antennae such that thoseplural channels include a phased array receiver and can include a lineararray or two-dimensional array that is directive substantially in adirection parallel to the plane of the array. It can also be directivesubstantially in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the array.The plural elements can be operative with the plural channels andinclude a phased array receiver that includes a three-dimensional array.The plural elements can be operative with the plural channels andinclude a phased array receiver that are of the same polarization. Thereceiver can also be plural co-located receivers with substantiallyco-located antennas, including a plural channel receiver that is aphased array receiver.

[0072] The Time of Arrival of a signal path can be measured on thelinear or a vector combination of weighted signals from plural receiverchannels. The weights for the channels can be chosen to reduce or nullsignals from paths other than the path for which the Time of Arrival ismeasured. Polarization of the antennae elements can feed some of thechannels that differ from the polarization of the antennae elementsfeeding other of the channels. This other information can includeinformation about or gathered by the transmitter such as, but notlimited to: configuration (e.g., body worn, vehicle mounted, attached tolarge asset, attached to hand-carried asset); elevation; barometricpressure; temperature; location (e.g., outdoors, indoors, on road); orvelocity. The other information is transmitted by the transmitting unit.

[0073] The method and system for calibrating a wireless location systemsuch as receivers used for locating a transmitter is advantageously setforth. A signal can be transmitted from an unknown location. A signal isreceived and measured at each of a first and second receiver. An errorvalue is determined based on the difference between an expecteddifference between parameter values and the actual difference betweenmeasured parameter values such that the expected difference isdetermined using information from the database and other sources.

[0074] The error value is used to apply corrections to the wirelesslocation system equipment to minimize the errors in subsequentmeasurements and/or apply corrections to any prior, concurrent orsubsequent measurements of the parameter. Throughout this description,the proxy reference transmitter can be a natural or man-made object asdescribed before. It can also be described as the proxy referencereceiver or proxy receiver that receives and reflects or refractssignals, thus acting similar to a transmitter. Any error value can alsobe based on the difference between an expected frequency difference ofarrival and the actual frequency difference of arrival.

[0075]FIG. 3 illustrates a first aspect of the present invention,wherein the processor has selected a proxy receiver 60 located at aproxy receive site (PRS) which is believed to be a reflector/refractorof signals from the transmitter to the receiver, as in a typicalmultipath example. The Time of Arrival for the proxy receiver equals theTime of Arrival of the reflected or refracted path at the receiver site(RS) minus the proxy receiver site to receiver site propagation time.Although a water tower is the illustrated proxy receiver 60, it shouldbe understood that a proxy receiver located at a proxy receiver site canbe any type of reflector or refractor such as the flat, reflective sideof a building, the edge of a building, a geographic landmark such as alarge hillside, a tree in the middle of a prairie, a communications orutility tower, bridge or other reflector/refractor objects as suggestedand known by those skilled in the art.

[0076] In the specific illustrated aspect shown in FIG. 3, the receivesite (RS) 62 includes a receiver (R₁) and includes an omnidirectionalantenna 63 that receives a signal from the mobile transmitting unit 64.The associated processor 65 is operatively connected to the receiver anddetermines the Time of Arrival of the earliest arriving path signalincident on the omnidirectional antenna using standard processingalgorithms known to those skilled in the art. The computer or otherprocessor of the type known to those skilled in the art 65 could belocated at the receive site or connected via communication lines 66 at adistance from the receive site. In one aspect of the invention, aunidirectional antennae 67 can be pointed directly at the water tower 60and positioned at the receiver site and also operatively connected tothe receiver. The receiver determines the Time of Arrival of thereflected or refracted path signal incident upon the directionalantenna. The processor 65 determines the Time Difference of Arrivalbetween the line of sight signal transmitted to the receive site fromthe mobile transmitting unit and the reflection from the water tower,i.e., the proxy receiver 62. This value is determined based upon theknown location of the water tower as stored in the database.

[0077]FIG. 5 illustrates the use of a proxy receiver 72, such as a watertower, for calibrating respective clocks 73, 74 at respective receiver 1(75) and a receiver 2 (76). Calibrated clocks can be criticallyimportant in some applications for determining the location of mobileunits, especially when multipath considerations are taken into account,as in the present invention. Even if the mobile transmitting unit 77 isat an unknown location, this unit can transmit to the proxy receive sitefrom that unknown location against the reflector, acting as a proxyreceiver 72, i.e., the water tower, in the present example. Each receivesite, such as the illustrated receiver 1 and receiver 2, receive thereflection off the water tower acting as the proxy receiver. The receivesites are at fixed, known locations and the distance and angle to thewater tower are known. A central processor 78 is operative with bothreceivers could receive the Time of Arrival and Angle of Arrivalinformation from the two receivers. Through appropriate algorithms andcalculations, the differences are established, and the offset from thetwo clocks 73, 74 can be removed using standard processing algorithms,as known to those skilled in the art. This calibration is advantageousover prior art techniques where known transmitters at known locationsare used to transmit a signal.

[0078]FIG. 6 illustrates a situation where multipath is present such asin an urban environment where various buildings, B1-B5 for example, arepresent. A transmitter, such as a mobile transmitting unit 64, islocated behind building B3, which is also positioned central to the fourother buildings B1, B2, B4 and B5. Receiver 1 (Rx₁) is located south ofthe buildings and receiver 2 (Rx₂) is located north of the buildings. Aprocessor is operative with the receivers.

[0079] As illustrated, no direct line of sight communications are madefrom the transmitter, e.g. mobile transmitting unit 64 to receiver 1(Rx₁) or receiver 2 (Rx₂). Instead, the first receiver (Rx₁) receivesreflected first and second arriving signals (PR1-1, PR1-2) frombuildings B1 and B5, while receiver 2 (Rx₂) receives a signal as a firstarriving path from building 2, which could be a as proxy receiver. Thus,the Angle of each transmission from a proxy receiver formed by therespective buildings and the signal and its Time of Arrival can bedetermined. If the time difference between the arrival of the signal atthe second receiver (Rx₂) and the earliest arriving of the two signalsat the first receiver (Rx₁) is taken, then the hyperbola line drawn at80 is formed. If the system took the Time Difference of Arrival of theearliest path at each site (Rx₁ or Rx₂), and the angle from one or theother of the sites, and the two locations are calculated, neither wouldbe correct as illustrated by the two stars 81, 82 shown at A2/TDOA andA1/TDOA. The first star 81 shows angle two with the Time Difference ofArrival and the second star 82 shows angle one and the Time Differenceof Arrival. The hyperbola line drawn at 84 illustrates the correcthyperbola if there were only direct line of sight communications. It isevident that there are three sites PR1-2, PR2-2, and PR1-1 showingsquares for the proxy receivers and the curves are calculated with thisambiguous solution.

[0080]FIG. 7 illustrates a similar situation where an improper line 85forming a potential locus of points is established when mobiletransmitting unit 64 is located between buildings B3, B3′, and onlyAngle of Arrival considerations are used with line of sight valuesAS2/TD and A1/TD. Improper locations are shown by stars 86 are based onthe Time Difference of Arrival calculations.

[0081] In accordance with the present invention, the location, i.e., thelatitude and longitude, of a reflector/refractor located at the proxyreceive site and forming a proxy receiver along each of the arrivingpaths is determined via a look-up table or feature extraction from ageographic image database, such as the software “RealSite,” as developedby Harris Corporation of Melbourne, Fla. The geographic database couldinclude data relating to the natural and man-made features in a specificarea, including data about buildings and natural land formations such ashills.

[0082] For example, a database could include information about aspecific area, from where a signal emanates, includes a tall building orwater tower, being a passive reflector of radio or other signals, andthus act as a proxy receiver. A look-up table could have similar dataand the system processor would interrogate and determine from thelook-up table the type of buildings, natural features, etc. from where asignal emanates to determine what features could be proxy receivers. Theuse of the geographic database with a look-up table or the use offeature extraction software is advantageous and allows the system todetermine if a direct line of sight path or a reflected and/or refractedpath is a source of the signal.

[0083] The system could use the feature extraction software or query thelook-up table to determine that the layout shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, whichincludes five buildings, forming the reflections and refractions asillustrated by the signal lines among the buildings. For the exampleshown in FIGS. 6 and 8, a two-dimensional database would be required. Itis possible, however, to also use a three-dimensional database in orderto take into consideration elevation concerns.

[0084] In this type of system, where knowledge of reflected/refractedand line of sight signals could be determined by feature extraction, orthe look-up table used, the location estimate could be calculated usingweighted Time Difference of Arrival curves and Angle of Arrivalbearings. The weights may depend on the number of parameters includingthe number of receive sites that receive a signal, such as receiver 1(Rx₁) and receiver 2 (Rx₂), as illustrated. Other weights could dependon the number of paths received at a site (or in total), as well as thegeometry, i.e., relative locations of the receive sites (Rx₁ and Rx₂),the proxy receive sites (PRS) and the mobile transmitting unit 64. Anestimated signal to noise (S/N) ratio for each path and the locationestimates from prior transmissions could also be used. The locationestimate could also be dependent on the weights from the Angle ofArrival and Time of Arrival estimates.

[0085] The process may be iterative. For example, if a mobile unit 64transmits a signal that is received at two receive sites, the systemcould calculate three estimates of the location using the receive siteTime of Arrival and Angle of Arrival. For example, the following threecalculations could be used: 1) the Angle of Arrival of receive site 1and the Angle of Arrival of receive site 2; 2) the Angle of Arrival fromreceive site 1 and the Time Difference of Arrival of receive site 2minus receive site 2; and 3) the Angle of Arrival for receive site 2 andTime Difference of Arrival for receive site 1 minus receive site 2.

[0086] If the variation between the estimate is small, then a weightedcombination could be used. If the variation is large, proxy receivesites could be substituted for one or both receive sites and the systemcould reiterate the calculations. Plural proxy receivers could be usedfor a single Angle of Arrival in this iterative process. The image dataobtained from feature extraction software, such as from RealSite, couldbe used to validate an answer.

[0087] For purposes of illustration, a brief description of an exampleof a feature extraction program that could be used with the presentinvention, such as RealSite, is set forth. Naturally, many differenttypes of feature extraction software are available to one skilled in theart, and can be used in the present invention to determine the variousfeatures that could act as passive reflectors or refractors and be proxyreceivers. Although the present example will be described relative totexture software, radio frequency reflective values could also be usedinstead of texture values as reflected optical effects. The databasecould also be used with two-dimensional or three-dimensional featureimaging. Optical reflectivity can be used for finding building planesurfaces and building edges, which aid in determining the location ofproxy receivers.

[0088] Further details of a texture mapping system used for creatingthree-dimensional urban models is disclosed in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/652,118, assigned to the present assignee, the disclosurewhich is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. For purposesof description, a high level review of feature extraction using RealSiteis first set forth. This type of feature extraction software can be usedto validate results and find the natural and man-made proxy receiversand can be used in two-dimensional and three-dimensional modes.

[0089] RealSite allows the creation of three-dimensional models intexture mapping systems and extends the technology used for terraintexturing to building texture by applying clip mapping technology tourban scenes. It can be used to determine optical reflectivity valuesand even radio frequency reflectivity for determining proxy receiversand determining the latitude and longitude of such proxy sites.

[0090] It is possible to construct a single image of a building frommany images that are required to paint all the sites. Building siteimages can fit into a composite image of minimum dimension, includingrotations and intelligent arrangements. Any associated building vertextexture coordinates can be scaled and translated to match new compositeimages. The building images can be arranged in a large “clip map” image,preserving the horizontal relationships of the buildings. If thehorizontal relationships cannot be accurately preserved, a “clip grid”middle layer can be constructed, which can be used by the displaysoftware to accurately determine the clip map center.

[0091] At its highest level, the system creates a packed rectangle oftextures for each of a plurality of three-dimensional objectscorresponding to buildings to be modeled for a geographic site. Thesystem spatially arranges the packed rectangle of textures in a correctposition within a site model clip map image. The texture mapping systemcan be used with a computer graphics program run on a host or clientcomputer having an OpenGL application programming interface. Thelocation of a clip center with respect to a particular x,y location forthe site model clip map image can be determined by looking up valueswithin a look-up table, which can be built by interrogating the verticesof all building polygon faces for corresponding texture coordinates.Each texture coordinate can be inserted into the look-up table based onthe corresponding polygon face vertex coordinate.

[0092] In these types of systems, the graphics hardware architecturecould be hidden by the graphics API (Application Programming Interface).Although different programming interfaces could be used, a preferredapplication programming interface is an industry standard API such asOpenGL, which provides a common interface to graphics functionality on avariety of hardware platforms. It also provides a uniform interface tothe texture mapping capability supported by the system architecture.

[0093] OpenGL allows a texture map to be represented as a rectangularpixel array with power-of-two dimensions, i.e., 2^(m)×2^(n). To increaserendering speed, some graphics accelerators use pre-computed reducedresolution versions of the texture map to speed up the interpolationbetween sampled pixels. The reduced resolution image pyramid layers arereferred to as MIPmaps by those skilled in the art. MIPmaps increase theamount of storage each texture occupies by 33%.

[0094] OpenGL can automatically compute the MIPmaps for a texture, orthey can be supplied by the application. When a textured polygon isrendered, OpenGL loads the texture and its MIPmap pyramid into thetexture cache. This can be very inefficient if the polygon has a largetexture, but happens to be far away in the current view such that itonly occupies a few pixels on the screen. This is especially applicablewhen there are many such polygons.

[0095] Further details of OpenGL programming are found in Neider, Davisand Woo, OpenGL Programming Guide, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1993,Chapter 9, the Guide disclosure which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

[0096] Clip texturing can also be used, which improves renderingperformance by reducing the demands on any limited texture cache. Cliptexturing can avoid the size limitations that limit normal MIPmaps byclipping the size of each level of a MIPmap texture to a fixed area clipregion.

[0097] Further details for programming and using clip texturing can befound in Silicon Graphics, IRIS Performer Programmer's Guide, SiliconGraphics, Chapter 10: Clip Textures, the Programmer's Guide, which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

[0098] IRIS Performer is a three-dimensional graphics and visualsimulation application programming interface that lies on top of OpenGL.It provides support for clip texturing that explicitly manipulates theunderlying OpenGL texture mapping mechanism to achieve optimization. Italso takes advantage of special hardware extensions on some platforms.Typically, the extensions are accessible through OpenGL as platformspecific (non-portable) features.

[0099] In particular, IRIS Performer allows an application to specifythe size of the clip region, and move the clip region center. IRISPerformer also efficiently manages any multi-level paging of texturedata from slower secondary storage to system RAM to the texture cache asthe application adjusts the clip center.

[0100] Preparing a clip texture for a terrain surface (DEM) and applyingit can be a straightforward software routine in texture mappingapplications, as known to those skilled in the art. An image or an imagemosaic is orthorectified and projected onto the terrain elevationsurface. This single, potentially very large, texture is contiguous andmaps monotonically onto the elevation surface with a simple verticalprojection.

[0101] Clip texturing an urban model, however, is less straightforwardof a software application. Orthorectified imagery does not always maponto vertical building faces properly. There is no projection directionthat will map all the building faces. The building textures comprise aset of non-contiguous images that cannot easily be combined into amonotonic contiguous mosaic. This problem is especially apparent in anurban model having a number of three-dimensional objects, typicallyrepresenting buildings and similar vertical structures. It has beenfound that it is not necessary to combine contiguous images into amonotonic contiguous mosaic. It has been found that sufficient resultsare achieved by arranging the individual face textures so that spatiallocality is maintained.

[0102]FIG. 9 illustrates a high level flow chart illustrating basicaspects of a texture application software model, such as could be usedin conjunction with the present invention as related to geolocating amobile transmitting unit. The system creates a packed rectangle oftextures for each building (block 100). The program assumes that thelocality is high enough in this region that the actual arrangement doesnot matter. The packed textures are arranged spatially (block 102). Thespatial arrangement matters at this point, and there are some trade-offsbetween rearranging things and the clip region size. A clip grid look-uptable, however, is used to overcome some of the locality limitations(block 104), as explained in detail below.

[0103] Referring now to FIG. 10, a more detailed flow chart sets forththe sequence of steps. A composite building texture map (CBTM) iscreated (block 110). Because of tiling strategies used later in a sitemodel clip mapping process, all images that are used to texture onebuilding are collected from different viewpoints and are packed into asingle rectangular composite building texture map. To help reduce thearea of pixels included in the CBTM, individual images (and texture mapcoordinates) are rotated (block 112) to minimize the rectangular areainside the texture map actually supporting textured polygons. Afterrotation, extra pixels outside the rectangular footprint are cropped off(block 114).

[0104] Once the individual images are pre-processed, image sizes foreach contributing image are loaded into memory (block 116). Thesedimensions are sorted by area and image length (block 118). A new imagesize having the smallest area, with the smallest perimeter, iscalculated, which will contain all the building's individual textures(block 120). The individual building textures are efficiently packedinto the new image by tiling them alternately from left to right andvice versa, such that the unused space in the square is minimized (block122).

[0105]FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a layout showing individualimages of a building in the composite building texture map. This isaccomplished by an exhaustive search as described to calculate thesmallest image dimensions describing each building.

[0106] A site model clip map image is next created. Because eachcomposite building texture map (CBTM) is as small as possible, placingeach one spatially correct in a large clip map is realizable. Initially,each composite building texture map is placed in its correct spatialposition in a large site model clip map (block 124). A scale parameteris used to initially space buildings at further distances from eachother while maintaining relative spatial relations (block 126). Theneach composite building texture map is checked for overlap against theother composite building texture maps in the site model clip map (block128). The site model clip map is expanded from top right to bottom leftuntil no overlap remains (block 130). For models with tall buildings, alarger positive scale parameter may be used to allow for the increasedlikelihood of overlap. All texture map coordinates are scaled andtranslated to their new positions in the site model clip map image.

[0107] Referring now to FIG. 12, a flow chart illustrates the basicoperation that can be used to process and display building clip texturescorrectly. A clip map clip grid look-up table is used to overcome theselimitations and pinpoint the exact location of where the clip centeroptimally should be located with respect to a particular x,y location.To build the table, the vertices of all the building polygon faces areinterrogated for their corresponding texture coordinates (block 150).Each texture coordinate is inserted into a look-up table based on itscorresponding polygon face vertex coordinates (block 152).

[0108] A clip center or point in the clip map is used to define thelocation of the highest resolution imagery within the clip map (block154). Determining this center for a terrain surface clip map is actuallyachievable with little system complexity because a single clip texturemaps contiguously onto the terrain elevation surface, so the cameracoordinates are appropriate. The site model clip map has a clip centerof its own and is processed according to its relative size and positionon the terrain surface (block 156). The site model clip map, however,does introduce some locality limitations resulting from tall buildingsor closely organized buildings. This necessitates the use of anadditional look-up table to compensate for the site model clip map'slack of complete spatial coherence. The purpose of the clip grid is tomap 3D spatial coordinates to clip center locations in the spatiallyincoherent clip map.

[0109] The clip grid look-up table indices are calculated using a x,yscene location (the camera position) (block 158). If the terrain clipmap and site model clip map are different sizes, a scale factor isintroduced to normalize x,y scene location for the site model clip map(block 160). It has been found that with sufficient design and advancesin the development of the spatial correctness of the building clip map,the need for the clip grid look-up table can be eliminated in up to 95%of the cases.

[0110] It is also possible to extend the algorithm and use multiple sitemodel clip maps. Using many smaller clip maps rather than one large clipmap may prove to be a useful approach if clip maps of variousresolutions are desired or if the paging in and out of clip maps fromprocess space is achievable. However, it requires the maintenance ofmultiple clip centers and the overhead of multiple clip map pyramids.

[0111] Using the image database, such as the RealSite database andassociated software, or a look-up table, if available, it is possible todetermine if a proxy receiver also has a certain elevation as areflector, as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14. FIG. 13 shows a plan view of abuilding layout, where a first building B10 is located in front of asecond building B11. First building B10 has a lower elevation thanbuilding B11. The transmitter or mobile transmitting unit 64 is locatedbehind the smaller, first building B10 and reflects its signal off thetaller, second building B11 to two receive sites having receivers Rx₁and Rx₂. Line 92 is representative of a locus of points that arerepresentative of the improper proxy receiver designation due to lack ofsufficient knowledge of the elevation of respective buildings B10 andB11 and thus causing an improper designation. Dots 94 represent possiblelocations based on that data. Line 95 represents the hyperbola with theproper proxy receiver designation and dots 96 represent the possiblelocations, indicting a greater accuracy. The image database can be usedto determine the proper hyperbola and angle to determine the TimeDifference of Arrival among associated signals and the proper reflectors(or refractors) and determine the approximate location of the mobiletransmitting unit.

[0112] As noted above, a Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) system andnot an Angle of Arrival system could use highly directive antennaspointed at selected proxy receivers, such as a water tower, a hugebuilding, a hill or other objects having the requisite signalreflectivity and acting as a proxy receiver. Also, the elevation Angleof Arrival measurements could be used to determine the height of theproxy receiver reflector/refractor. As a result, the line of sightmobile elevation induced slant range errors could be reduced. The proxyreceiver reflector/refractor height data would allow slant rangecalculations from the proxy receiver and would allow the estimation ofmobile elevation if a person held a mobile transmitting unit, such as atransmitting tag, personal device such as a mobile tracking device, orother transmitter device.

[0113] If one of the receive sites has a direct path, and a proxyreceiver is used for the other site, the Time Difference of Arrivalerror will be reduced unless the proxy receiver happens to lie on thecorrect bearing to the mobile transmitting unit. If the proxy receiveris on the correct bearing to the mobile transmitting unit, the TimeDifference of Arrival error would not change, but the hyperbola willrotate so that it is symmetric about the line between the proxy receiverand the other receive site, as shown in FIG. 13.

[0114] If two sites measure the Time of Arrival of a signal from thesame proxy receiver, and the calculated Time of Arrival at the proxyreceiver differs by the clock offset between the two receive sites, theclock error could then be removed as explained before. This can occureven when the transmitter is of an unknown location. This type of systemis advantageous over a transmitter at a known location, which is used todetermine clock offsets if the clock offset is calculated within a fewsamples of all the measured Time of Arrivals and does not represent anyadditional capacity use.

[0115] Beam forming could also be used to point out a specific proxyreceiver. Many different types of antennae, as known to those skilled inthe art, could be used for beam forming. It is presumed that nulling ofpaths would be used to remove impacts of other paths on the arrivingpath. For a four-element system, the system could place nulls on threeother paths. It is possible that a user of the system desires to nullthe largest or may want to null those most closely aligned in time withthe path of interest.

[0116] The Time of Arrival can be measured by any means known to thoseskilled in the art, including cross correlating signals from two sites.Naturally, the proxy receiver as a passive reflector could be the earth,and could require the elevation Angle of Arrival. Active repeaters couldbe used versus passive repeaters, but there would have to be somecalculation to account for repeater delay.

[0117] There is no requirement that the a proxy receiver be a reflector.Another radio receive site or a transmitter as a mobile transmittingunit could act as a proxy receiver. In addition, the system and methodof the present invention could be used to determine the location of amobile reflector as a proxy receiver. For example, the technique couldbe used as a passive radar by an aircraft to determine the location ofanother aircraft.

[0118] The first aircraft would measure the Time of Arrival of a signalfrom a transmitter with a known, but not necessarily fixed location. Theaircraft would also measure the Time of Arrival and Angle of Arrival forthe same signal reflected by the target, which could be an aircraft. Anybeam steering and nulling could be used to improve the ability to detectreflected signals and measure the direction of the arrival. Using theknown location of a first aircraft and the transmitter and the directionof arrival of the reflected signal, the location of an aircraft could becalculated.

[0119] A transmitter could be one operating cooperatively with the firstaircraft or an unwilling third party, such as an FM radio station oreven a satellite transponder. By measuring the Time of Arrival anddirection of arrival for a signal reflected from the ground and the Timeof Arrival and the direction of arrival of a direct pass signal, bothemanating from a second aircraft, a first aircraft may determine thelocation of a second aircraft.

[0120] The advantages of the system and method of the present inventionare manifest because location can be estimated from a single site ifmore than one path is received and an appropriate line of sight ordatabase information is known concerning the geographically orientedproxy receivers. Accuracy is improved with time base errors beingeliminated for Time Difference of Arrival calculations involving thereceive site and associated proxy receivers. Time of Arrivals can bemeasured relative to the same clock. A significant portion of themulipath induced Time of Arrival error is reduced in non-line-of-sightsituations. Multiple solution sets can provide additional informationand allow for weighting and averaging. The imagery from a database canbe used to apply corrections.

[0121] It is also possible to obtain mobile elevation estimates andmobile locations that are not restricted to a grid. The system is robustagainst changing multipath because of mobile elevation changes.Extensive calibration is not required. A reflector database does nothave to be extensive and could be generated from photographs such as theRealSite database. It could be useful for any system with Angle ofArrival or Time of Arrival systems, i.e. cell systems.

[0122] This application is related to copending patent applicationsentitled, “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CALIBRATING WIRELESS LOCATION SYSTEMS”and “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE LOCATION OF A TRANSMITTERUSING PASSIVE REFLECTORS OR REFRACTORS AS PROXY RECEIVERS AND USINGDATABASE QUERYING,” which are filed on the same date and by the sameassignee and inventors, the disclosures which are hereby incorporated byreference.

[0123] Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention willcome to the mind of one skilled in the art having the benefit of theteachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associateddrawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the invention is not tobe limited to the specific embodiments disclosed, and that themodifications and embodiments are intended to be included within thescope of the dependent claims.

That which is claimed is:
 1. A system for determining the location of atransmitter comprising: a transmitter to be located that transmits asignal; a receiver that receives a signal from a transmitter; a proxyreceiver that reflects and/or refracts a signal from the transmittertoward the one receiver; and a processor operative with the receiver fordetermining the location of the transmitter based on the Time of Arrivaland at least one of the Angle of Arrival of the signals received fromthe proxy receiver and the transmitter.
 2. A system according to claim 1wherein said transmitter comprises a mobile unit.
 3. A system accordingto claim 1 wherein said signal comprises a radio frequency signal.
 4. Asystem according to claim 1 wherein signal is a line of sight signalfrom the transmitter to the receiver.
 5. A system according to claim 1wherein said proxy receiver comprises a natural landmark.
 6. A systemaccording to claim 5 wherein said proxy receiver comprises an earthelevation.
 7. A system according to claim 1 wherein said proxy receivercomprises a man-made structure.
 8. A system according to claim 7 whereinsaid proxy receiver comprises a building.
 9. A system according to claim1 wherein said processor determines the location by computing a set oflocations corresponding to the Time Difference of Arrival of the signalfrom the transmitter and the signal received from the proxy receiver.10. A system according to claim 1 wherein said Angle of Arrival of thesignal from transmitter to the receiver is used for determining thelocation of the transmitter.
 11. A system according to claim 1 andfurther comprising a plurality of receivers for receiving the signal.12. A system according to claim 11 wherein said plurality of receiverscomprises two receivers.
 13. A method for determining the location of atransmitter comprising the steps of: receiving a signal from thetransmitter within a receiver; receiving the signal from an objectacting as a proxy receiver that has reflected and/or refracted thesignal from the transmitter; and determining the location of thetransmitter based on the Time of Arrival and at least one Angle ofArrival of the signals from the proxy receiver and transmitter.
 14. Amethod according to claim 13 wherein said transmitter comprises a mobileunit.
 15. A method according to claim 13 wherein said signal is a lineof sight signal from the transmitter to the receiver.
 16. A methodaccording to claim 13 wherein said proxy receiver comprises a naturallandmark.
 17. A method according to claim 16 wherein said proxy receivercomprises an earth elevation.
 18. A method according to claim 13 whereinsaid proxy receiver comprises a man-made structure.
 19. A methodaccording to claim 18 wherein said proxy receiver comprises a building.20. A method according to claim 13 and further comprising the step ofdetermining the location by computing a set of locations correspondingto the Time Difference of Arrival of the signal from the transmitter andthe proxy receiver.
 21. A method according to claim 13 wherein saidAngle of Arrival of said signal from the transmitter is a line of sightsignal and is used for determining the location of the transmitter. 22.A method for determining the location of a transmitter comprising thesteps of: receiving a signal from the transmitter within anomnidirectional antenna located at a receiver; receiving the signal intoa narrow beam antenna of the receiver that is directed at a known objectacting as a proxy receiver that has reflected and/or refracted thesignal from the transmitter; and determining the location of thetransmitter based on the Time of Arrival and at least one Angle ofArrival of the received signals.
 23. A method according to claim 22wherein said signal is a line of sight signal from the transmitter tothe receiver.
 24. A method according to claim 22 wherein the location ofproxy receiver is known.
 25. A method according to claim 22 wherein saidtransmitter comprises a mobile unit.
 26. A method according to claim 22wherein said proxy receiver comprises a natural landmark.
 27. A methodaccording to claim 26 wherein said proxy receiver comprises an earthelevation.
 28. A method according to claim 22 wherein said proxyreceiver comprises a man-made structure.
 29. A method according to claim26 wherein said proxy receiver comprises a building.
 30. A methodaccording to claim 26 and further comprising the step of determining thelocation of the transmitter by computing a set of locationscorresponding to the Time Difference of Arrival of the signal from thetransmitter and the proxy receiver.
 31. A method according to claim 26wherein said Angle of Arrival of said signal received in theomnidirectional antenna is used for determining the location of thetransmitter.